Don’t know how to employ a cleaner

[Itwasntme1]

So finally contacted a cleaning company to arrange a cleaner.

I described my house size and said I wanted a deep clean first (three hours), then an hour of cleaning a week.

Response was they would come to my house and tell me what I needed. Said usually takes three hours a week to clean a house.

I’m a little concerned, my friends with bigger houses, kids etc get a clean done every other week. I would be prepared to ask for two hours every other week, but three hours a week seems a bit to much. And would cost £180 a month which is too much for me to spend on cleaning.

So advice needed! Am I being unrealistic?

First of all you don’t employer a cleaner you just use their services. How big is your house? They won’t be able to do a deep clean in 3 hours and a weekly clean in 1 hour. What is it that you want them to do every week?

Well what size is your house?

My house is 4 bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, utility, study, playroom, living room and only half can be done in 2 hours.

Tell them your budget and ask what cleaning they can do for that. I have a clean which is hoover, or mop all rooms, clean 2 bathrooms and light dusting. This is £25 pw for a 4 bed house. They don’t do windows or woodwork for this which would be £40 pw if I wanted it.

I doubt they’d be willing to come out for an hour, doesn’t make it worth their while.

Can you get a recommendation from someone? Friends or colleagues who have cleaners?

I'm a cleaner, the minimum I do is 2 hours, as a previous poster says it's not worth it to come for less.
Work out your budget and go from there

House is three bedroom, bathroom, en-suite and wc. Only me living there. I wanted the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned. Maybe an hour would be tight, but it’s a small house so two hours should do it?

I know quite a few people who have a cleaner come for an hour a week, but I suppose two hours every fortnight would be fine?

I might try for recommendations rather than this service, replies were a little odd, didn’t ask many questions and didn’t give me a time on the day they said they would come for the deep clean.

Sorry about saying employ rather than use, hopefully people understand what I mean😊

They will tell you how long it will take to clean your house each week. If they are saying 3 hours a week, that is how long it will take. I can't imagine anything other than a tiny studio flat could be cleaned in just 1 hour

You could do what my mum does and ask them to alternate areas.

I think 3 hours sounds really tight for a deep clean but 2 hours every other week they could probably get floors, bathroom, toilet, kitchen and dusting I imagine - if your house is tidy to start with.

I had a deep clean on my 2 bed, one bathroom semi recently and it took 2 of them 4 hours. I was here and they really did work hard - descaling bathroom, scrubbing tiles, tops of cupboards, insides of windows etc - depends what you see as a deep clean!

Okay - clearly I got this spectacularly wrong!

I really don’t want to spend the money for three hours a week, so I may need to rethink.

Rate is £15 an hour - Two hours every other week is probably my max. But this may also seem unreasonable to the cleaner.

And there was me fretting about buying in loads of cleaning products and wondering how to sort the key😂.

You can afford what you can afford. I would spend what you can on the deep clean and then get them to come for 2 hours fortnightly if that's what you can manage. If it's just you and no pets that'll be fine, especially if you run a cloth round and the hoover on the alternate weeks.

We pay £12.50 an hour, our cleaner comes for two hours a week. She cleans kitchen, bathroom, hoovers all round and mops downstairs and bathroom (upstairs is carpet, downstairs floorboards). It's essentially what I would do in a weekly blitz and means any cleaning time we get we do windows, deep clean kitchen sort cupboards etc rather than the day to day. I do have a cordless Hoover that gets run around at least the kitchen each day and I mop the kitchen floor each night before bed, so it's not a tip when she gets here.

First deep clean she did five hours, it was amazing and if I could afford that every week my house would be immaculate

I just gave myself half an hour to see what I could do. Kitchen and downstairs wc. And while I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher (which I wouldn’t expect a cleaner to do) it was probably more superficial than a cleaner would do.

I am going to do half an hour every night between now and next week to get the house ready for the deep clean (declutter and spare my blushes) then see where we go from there.

I may have been ambitious thinking the deep clean could be done in three hours - five is fine though.

I meant to say the half hour showed me an hour was too short for weekly clean😊

Some lovely helpful comments here , thank you! Sorry I was so clueless.

Any hints in what cleaner will need. I provide products. Use method kitchen and bathroom, and have ordered a new mop, new clothes and new dusters, So they don’t have to use my manky ones.

Clutter is my problem in the house. Am going to fill a bin bag a day with stuff I don’t use, then move everything that would get in the way (laundry etc) into the spare room. Cleaners won’t be asked to go in there😊.

Just worried they will be horrified - kitchen due an upgrade and oven is a horror. Won’t ask them to clean it, hopefully being ripped out in a couple of months.

Do you have neighbours who have a cleaner? My cleaner did three of my neighbours houses and then mine. She/he might be more inclined to do just an hour if she/he is already there?

Next door have a cleaner who comes for an hour a week. That said I assume she is a cleaner, I was off work For a couple of months last year and I noticed a lady came for an hour at the same time every week.

We aren’t particularly Close so I don’t want them to think I have been spying😊.

Let’s hope it’s a cleaner then!

I'm a cleaner and would say 2 hours every 2 weeks would be fine for general upkeep

A deep clean would take a lot longer than 3 hours for a start.
I live in a medium sized flat, and have 3 hours done fortnightly.
2 hours a week isn't realistic for a house, unless you're happy for certain tasks to be alternated.
I think you have to be realistic about it

Oh. You mean 2 hours a fortnight. I should think that's not really worth it.

@dieu really? Even two hours a fortnight not worth it? Surely in that time a cleaner could clean the kitchen and bathroom and do a quick vacuum and dust? Ie wouldn't expect the whole house to be scrubbed, but think it would help me stay on top of things.

Only one bedroom is used. I work twelve hours a day and am out most weekends so there isn’t a lot of traffic in the house.

I was thinking of getting the deep clean done every six months. Maybe forget the regular cleans and just get a deep clean every few months.

God his is hard! None of my friends get a cleaner for three hours a week, and they all have families and four bed houses. Will ask around in work today.

Hi OP

it can feel overwhelming when you first get cleaners etc. Lots and lots of people make the mistake of being too 'grateful' - bending over backwards etc and you can't go back from the that so don't start.

It's true that good cleaners are like gold dust, and it's also true that many cleaners are mediocre, at best. Don't go buying extra kit and equipment until you've found someone you're happy with.

people have cleaners for all sorts of hours, durations, depending on their houses, pets, budget. In your case, 2 hours a fortnight to do a good clean of kitchen, bathroom, en-suite and common areas of your house will make a difference and save you time and effort. Look for a company / cleaner who can do that if that's what you want.

For the cleaning company I use, it's less about the time it will take and more about what's worth their while when they factor in travel time etc. The min they will do is 2 hours a week or 3 hours a fortnight. We have a 3 bed flat (although often ask the cleaner to skip 1 or 2 of the bedrooms) and we still pay for 2 hours a week even though it doesn't always take that. I understand they have margins though. You might be better off with a self employed cleaner who will be more flexible than an agency.